Food chopper



Jan. s, 1935. c A, LAEMMgL 1,986,934

7 FOOD CHOPPER Filed Feb. 3, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l "mow Charles A.L;aemmel,

c. A. LAEMMEL} r 1,986,934

FOOD CHOPPER Filed Feb. 5, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 than food choppers heretcforemade;

Patented Jan; 8, 1935 i fli lim-ll We a. n, m

" classmate i I noonir onnrrnn i i alpltn'ian mnla claims invention' -'-relates to new an i useful m- -provemerits in feed choppers; ahd hasten-an 6bject to-provide a food chopper that is simple -in construction-and cbntaIins-aqess numsemfi arts Still allothel dbject (if-the invhtiofi i s d=prO vide a food *chopper where n th worm or screw -is-formed' at itseolliter end that isfithe :end 916 5?- cent the usual perforated plate) to act as "carr er nr liclder forthe krzivesmr elittersb v is -w'el1-"'-known "lthose 'ski-lled 'in"the' art, food choppers generally con'sis't of r the barrel or body-cfthe reoa enopper withtfthe wiorm on'scr'ew, "the liaridledr tli'rifing' thesam, "and a'carr'ierbr the 'screwg tliis canrier or bearing agg aiinst the mmigrated-p ece se "thawth 'eatiwmhe c11t,-" and" properly fcrced fil n oiigh he pl'ate. i i

The present invention contemplateyusing a worm unscrew Wit/hm; double mesa thrmig liout length and four threads at its endi ilhat is,' it's cneend isiormed to receive a multiplicitlyoffiknife bla'des; {thus dispensing witli 'the ordinary if'orm nmmne or knireearner: p '-Sti1l=another ooiect of the inven' ti'dn Wide a: 006. chopper wherein? one end of l the worm may be 'iormedto simulat the -avrms=di an ordinary carrier; whicli arms willibe slctted to wither-hold two pairs f kn ilfiez blades;'sim'ilarato those shown Iin'man lappli-cation' filed by .me on September- 1-932;' -SeI1iaI1 N0; 631 ,72 (Jr Knives "for fo'od ichopper's; \cr they I m'ay hold separa te blades, as will be imore fmly 'descfibed as the specification proceeds. 1 "Still a another object zofi the inwmtion-iiis'tc fibrin the end of I the r worm quadruple in} form; and so icut Qth'efifaces icfthe tour resultant; farms that they, in turn, act as carriersfor the knife blades,

thus Ido-ing awayowithsthe conventional knifei or knife: carrier aas heretofore used? f i .Still another iobj ect bf? the invention 'isl. 0: 1pm- Wide :a worm, TI the endfof: which "is providdswith radial slots, whiclhlin tunnycarry adjustable or showing the rmannerrinwhichtthe blades' are ad- 'jiistablywpmsitidned :theiend o the can or helix; T.

Fig; 3 ie an end view of theworm, with the blades in place, andshowing the manner in which they are seated; t n i Fig-4 .is a fragmentary detail of the'en'd o'f one arm of the helix and showinga hardened;steel weari pl'ate "inserted in a counter recess "thereof Tig. 5 is a perspectiveviewnf one jof-the double 'hnife bladesjp I ever, a slight-modification=of'the blades :and the which they are hel'cl in the *facezi'of the of barrel 1,' having the hopper 2 and the han- 1116 3 I which, in :turn, actuates the Worm or helix 4:5 "The outer ien'd of the barrel IiS externally tl-i' reatied, as i-at l5, andirecessed; as :at *6, to :hold thej us'ual perlcrated *plate '97 in place, which. may he p'inned, ia's iat- 8, to prevent rotationrthereof. 'Bhereds-" also VtheAfisuaI ring 9 to "secure the "plate in placez The perforated plate 2'7 islrprowided I with a cen tral ly located hub" 10, ."through l passes the stud l1; which. is threaded; :as

f at- 12; tof in tnm, lae' thread'ed within the central open ing 1 3 of I the 'wormwr: helix' i. .Ast may be readily seen from Fig. 1; the :ordina'ryliomn inf kniie or carrier has been dispensed-"With; Ingorder thatthe meat or ":bthelfimaterialito be "ground or chopped will pass "speedily1 to rvthe Y outer end of the worm,the same is usually formed th a' dou bled thread, as shown.

5 maybe en inFig. Ltwc threadslofivthe wcrm are =of larger diameter, and extend right ciit ta the forward or cutting fedgeofthe worm; *Ih otherf*-twc .1 threads are of' smaller diameter. "Ellie" larger threads or spirals of. the wormzm'ay be seen at 15'an'd 16 while the smaller ones may {be clearly seenat 17 andllli" It w'illw'be understood that the quadruple threads might possibly *extend 'the full length of the wcrm'lmt prefer.- aloly 'flie snialler ones 17 and 18are spaced-between the-larger ones only at the cutting endand memade into thebody'of the' wormzl i i pi'i'rpose of having these' thread's of (1- erntd'i arneters istojallow more space for the meat and in tic =way retard its flow. Of courseyituis withu i the prvince 0f "the :invention to have" a triple-threaded worm or simply a double-threaded worm, while the end of each thread inany in- It will also be understood that the end of the stance would carry its respective cutting knife. worm might be triplicate in form rather than Referring to Fig. 3,.it will be seen that I fiatquadruple and in that case there would .be only ten olfthe end-of the thread 15 to, in reality, three 'armsinstea diof f'our for holding the knife form the arm 19, while diametrically opposite, the blades. same procedure is carried out to form the arm- Referring now to the first modification shown 20. In a like manner, the end 17 of the smallerin"Fig. 6, it will be seen that the worm 31 (with -thatthe cuttingjedges of the blades must always "align in the most eflicient fixedposition with the 1 knife consists of the two arms 27' and 27",; which the plate 7.

. erablyv counter-recess the respective slots and inside walls of the respective slots for the blades sure-al thread is flattened out to form the arm;2-1'.and,i=;:the end quadruple in form) is exactly the same, in a like manner, diametrically opposite the, as likewisethe shaft 32 and plate 33, to the thread 18 is flattened to forrnithearrn'g22; preferred forin,'but in this instance, in the arms As also may be seen in Figs. 2'and 3,'thearms1 9""34 formed at theendof the threads of the worm, and 21 are milled on their face with the rspec- "instead of forming two pairs of connecting slots, tive slots 23 and 24, and arefin turn, joified by .I mill four-'separate slots 35, counter-recess these, the little angular slots 25 and 26, so-that the ,,as at.36,.( see Fig. 6) and insert the small steel double spring knife blade 2'? may be snapped into" 1a es "37. Then I insert four separate knife place; :This spring knife blade, and the way it blades 38: which,;.at their one end, have the litismounted in a continuous slot, forms the sub-,' tle steel studs 39 which, in -.turn, fit within the ject matter of a separate application filed by me small; bores .4 thatare adjacent. the rear end .on; September 3, 1932, Serial No. 631,721, for and at one .side of each of the slots 35. Knives for food choppers. The knife blades are angular shaped on their I Itwill beunderstood in that former applicaundersurfaceand; extend to the apex 41, so that tion, however, the self-aligning knives were these knives mayrock or properly seat themselves -mounted in a carrier of more or less convenafter beingplacedinthe slot and-pulled up against tionaltyperather than in, the endof the worm, the plate33. n ,g :as'ashown in the present application By providingthese littlestuds39 in the small Just-briefly described, therefore, the double counter-bores 40;;the knivesareprevented from moving longitudinally of; their receptive slots.

are angularly shapedaon. their bottom, that is, Figs-.9 tollshowastillfurtheri slight modifica- .taper. from theirzrespective endstoward the cention, theworm i2 ,being5exactly the same, but in ters, as at 28, so that these blades may p operly this inst-ancethesmall knives d3, instead of being seat. and rock i themselves within the respective provided witha stud,= have a turned end 44 which slots 23 and 2 i-'.a.Inv other words; theywill' alfitsjwithin thecounter-bores 45- formed'near the WayS'Xtend at exactly right angles 3 t p end ,of the-slots 46in the end of the worm,.as will forate'd plate 7.1 and contact with the. plate be;;readily;understood. 1 throughout their entire-cutting edges; The in- Thus, it will be seen that whether thedouble tegral :bridge portion 29' allows the blades-to be knife blades, as-shown in Fig. 3,-are used, or, the sprun sli ht y s t at w n in ins t d th y single knife iblades;:as shown in the two modificacan be; quickly and readily snapped-into place. tions, a11e used, they will always properly align 'Also,.lthis ..bridgeportionfbeing @reduced allows themselves with respectto theplate when the each bladetoproperly set itself with respect to .platezis, pulledup'tightly. againstlthe worm and v :thus at all times present-thedesired cutting edges to the plate and ,to' the meat to, be cut.

Anotheradvantage that will be readily'seen is that the; worm is; at all times properly aligned with regard toitheplate and, therefore, the blades likewise will be in proper alignment, which is not always the; case where' a carrier ofv the conventional type has tobe screwed up against the forward end of the worm. 3 V Again, the worm being constructed 'in this man- -ner..causes the self-aligning blades to transmit the pressure against them in a line at 90 to the plate; j': y r. r i From the-"foregoingit will be'seen that I have provided a food chopper wherein: the end of the worm is formed as might :be-saidirl quadruple, in'stead'of ,singleor double; so that the end may It Will be Seen, therefore, that'when these be formed in the shapeofintegral arms which, double spr n knife blades are inserted in th in turn, act ascarriers' for the self-aligning blades p v lsl t d o t w y wi which may be four separate bladesor two pairs. p p y" ali sth m lv s w th respect t h The blades are always in proper alignment, due P e a t fi at 0 angle tozth fr tothe :properalignme'nt of;the worm, while the Surface thereof a h s a p y Cut the. m a meatis not diverted by any square-studded rather t teal ohshr'ed'the ame- T. carrier,'whichtheretofore has been the practice. --.::The stud 11 of the stub, Shaft williax al y. align .3 Finally, there are less partsto' be manufactured 'the worm or helix, and'as the knives arefitted d 1 parts t lb l d, w theend'of S 1 rfih Manyslightfichanges mightbe made as, for inpodition 1 the" knifeibladeswill always be stance, upwardly rounding" the bottom of the correct. e i a ,1 respective slots for the-knives and forming the r m th v stru ti n, it wi l se knives straight across their bottom which, of

7:. ZInasmuch,:however, asthe worm 4 is generally 'formed' of iron',-:cast' or otherwise, theremight bela tendency .for the raisedportions 28" on the under sides of the blades to wear the bottom of their respective slots'in the end of thetworm, "so; as may be noticedfin Figs. 1, 2, and; 4, I prefsert the little hardened platesv 30. -Thus,, the knives, at these high-points on their bottom sur- ;faces:will'rest or bear upon the hardened steel plates and prevent any wearing in the bottoms Tof the slotsof the worm 4.

It will also be understood that if desired,-I mightharden the end of the worm, so thatthe will-be insured.a'gainst:any unduewear.

changesymight be made without'departing from the spiritand scope of the invention.

What, llzclaim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: 2-

termination of the worm, that is, directlyin back of the pointwhere flthetmeat is underlmost 'prescourse, is simply a transition of parts. Also, other plicity of threads of different diameters, the. threads at the one end extending in a plane surl knife blades, and said'slots being counter-recessed 1. A worm for food choppers having a multiface at right angles to the longitudinalaxis of the worm and provided with receptive radial slots for and provided with steel inserts.

2. A knife blade for a food chopper being rela-Z tively thin and having a plane cutting edge and an arcuate under surface adapted to bear on a flat surface to thus permit the knife blade to rockably adjust itself, and retaining means at its one end extending at an angle to the body of the blade. i

3. A worm for a food chopper having aquad-' ruplet thread, the end'of each thread forming an arm to act as a knife carrier, the knife carriers divided into pairs and each pair having an irregularly-shaped slot extending from its one arm toward the hub and throughout the length of its other arm, and an irregularly-shaped knife blade fitted Within the slot of each pair of carriers and held in position by the irregularly-shaped slot in the carrier.

4. A food chopper including removable knife blades, said knife blades having a plane cutting edge and tapering under surfaces and adapted to rest on plane surfaces to permit rockable adjustment, said knives having retaining means at their one end and in a plane above the base of the taper, and said means extending at an angle to the longitudinalaxis of the blades.

5. A knife blade for food choppers formed of relatively thin metal, the blade being fiat across its top surface and tapering toward its longitudinal center on its under surface adapted to contact with a plane surface to permit a rockable adjustment at all times, additional metal at the one end of the knife and extending at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the knife to act as a retaining means when the blade is in a food chopper.

CHARLES ALBERT LAEMMEL. 

